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Speaker 2: at the volume.

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Speaker 1: Happy Friday, everybody.

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Speaker 2: Hope all of you guys had a great week as

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Speaker 2: promise from last night, we're gonna do a mail bag today.

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Speaker 2: I'm actually recording three completely separate mail bags. We had

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Speaker 2: like one hundred mail bag questions in the YouTube video

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Speaker 2: last night, and so I divided them into three segments.

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Speaker 2: Today's mail bag is just going to focus on the

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Speaker 2: Western Conference Finals and fallout from that series for both teams,

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Speaker 2: some big picture topics about the Mavericks in a vacuum,

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Speaker 2: and some stuff about Minnesota heading into their offseason. Tomorrow,

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Speaker 2: the entire mail bag is going to be centered around

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Speaker 2: the NBA Finals, so a lot of Dallas Boston type

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Speaker 2: of topics, right, and then Sunday morning's mail bag is

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Speaker 2: going to be focused on the NBA at Large. So

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Speaker 2: I just kind of took all your guys's mail bags

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Speaker 2: question for all your mail bag questions from last night,

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Speaker 2: and just kind of filtered them into those three categories.

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Speaker 2: So Western Conference Finals today, NBA Finals tomorrow, NBA at

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Speaker 2: Large on Sunday. You guys know the drill before we

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Speaker 2: get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You

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Speaker 2: don't miss any more of our videos, follow me on

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Speaker 2: Twitter and underscore JSNLT, so you guys don't miss show announcements,

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Speaker 2: don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your

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Speaker 2: podcast under hoops Tonite, and then keep dropping mail back

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Speaker 2: questions in those YouTube comments, and we keep hitting them

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Speaker 2: throughout the rest of the postseason and the last but

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Speaker 2: not at least before we get started, I want to

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Speaker 2: who I think is playing like the best player in

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Speaker 2: the world right now in Luka Dancic, Jason Tatum making

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Speaker 2: his second appearance in the NBA appearance in the NBA Finals,

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Speaker 2: Kyrie Irving, Jalen Brown, Drew Holiday, Chris Hops, Porzingis, Derek White.

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Speaker 2: let's talk some basketball. So, first mail back question centering

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Speaker 2: around the end of the Western Conference Finals last night,

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Speaker 2: in which quarter did you start recording this episode? It

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Speaker 2: came out like five minutes after the buzzer. In reference

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Speaker 2: to the fact that our instant reaction came out pretty

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Speaker 2: quickly last night, it's funny. I had a conversation with

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Speaker 2: our producers last night and I went I started working

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Speaker 2: on the show right at halftime.

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Speaker 1: I knew that game was over.

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Speaker 2: And what's interesting, and there's a specific question about this

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Speaker 2: later on in the mailbag, but they were, you know,

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Speaker 2: a team that had come back from a large deficit before.

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Speaker 2: They were down twenty in the Western in the second

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Speaker 2: round series against Denver on the road, and they came

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Speaker 2: back to win that game. But I just I had

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Speaker 2: a feeling that game was just completely over. I thought

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Speaker 2: Luca had mentally dominated Minnesota, sat them of their confidence.

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Speaker 1: I thought it was over.

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Speaker 2: And so we just got started working on the pod

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Speaker 2: nice and early, and my wife was very appreciative as

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Speaker 2: we got to have a little night cap last night.

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Speaker 2: I'm glad you're making the points that you are. People

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Speaker 2: are going to talk about what happened to Minnesota, what

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Speaker 2: happened to their scheme, why they did not perform, et cetera.

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Speaker 2: But in my opinion, there's only one thing that happened tonight.

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Speaker 2: Greatness by Luka Doncic happened tonight.

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Speaker 1: That's it.

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Speaker 2: Game summary done. The ninety eight Jazz were a championship

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Speaker 2: caliber team. The twenty sixteen Warriors were a championship team,

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Speaker 2: but they both just lost a greatness playing and simple.

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Speaker 2: We throw around the title of great way too much

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Speaker 2: in this league, but this is what it actually looks like,

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Speaker 2: and it doesn't happen often. I completely agree. You know,

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Speaker 2: I think that there's a desire. I've noticed this a lot,

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Speaker 2: especially from the analytics community. There's a desire to try

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Speaker 2: to like have a very clear answer, like a solution

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Speaker 2: to the problem, which I totally understand. That's the way

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Speaker 2: people like that are wired. And I'm wired like that

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Speaker 2: in a lot of ways too. Before I got into

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Speaker 2: playing basketball in college, I was an engineering student, so

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Speaker 2: I thought very much from a math perspective with things,

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Speaker 2: and like that was kind of that is kind of

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Speaker 2: the just the goal of everybody when they're looking at

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Speaker 2: a game, It's like, how can we solve this problem?

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Speaker 2: Where's the where's the simple and detailed explanation of why

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Speaker 2: this happened. And you guys know, like I love to

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Speaker 2: get into that sort of thing, and we do when

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Speaker 2: I think it matters, like whenever there we talk a

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Speaker 2: lot about adjustments, we talk a lot about the tactics

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Speaker 2: that are taking place on the basketball court, but at

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Speaker 2: the end of the day, there are sometimes there are

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Speaker 2: some situations where intangible things can have a greater impact.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, I one hundred percent agree. I didn't.

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Speaker 2: I saw a lot of Mavericks fans in the comments

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Speaker 2: last night, like, oh, Lively was back, That's why we won.

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Speaker 2: And it's like, I know Lively is super valuable to

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Speaker 2: you guys. I'm not trying to minimize that. But no,

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Speaker 2: that's not why you won last night, and it's not

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Speaker 2: why you lost Game four. You lost Game four because

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Speaker 2: the Timberwolves went into your arena and they outplayed you.

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Speaker 2: And then in Game six or five, in particular, Luca

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Speaker 2: was so aggressive earlier scored. Luca personally scored on four

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Speaker 2: of the first six possessions of the game. He had

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Speaker 2: that run towards the end of the first quarter that

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Speaker 2: turned what an eighteen eighteen tie into thirty one eighteen

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Speaker 2: or something like that. If I remember correctly, that Luca

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Speaker 2: snatched their confidence at the start of that game, and

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Speaker 2: then Minnesota stopped executing. They started kicking the ball all

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Speaker 2: over the floor where they have nine turnovers in the

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Speaker 2: first half. None of them can make a shot. I

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Speaker 2: literally thought that was the game last night. There was

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Speaker 2: no tactical adjustment, There was no fancy explanation for what

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Speaker 2: happened other than Luca went into that arena and he

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Speaker 2: destroyed the Minnesota Timberwolves and they never had any chance

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Speaker 2: to regain their footing. How does Luca no wan to

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Speaker 2: effectively rest during an offensive possession every once in a while.

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Speaker 2: I feel like this has never talked about enough and

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Speaker 2: is so important to his game management given he is

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Speaker 2: in the top tier athlete one hundred percent agree. Rinds

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Speaker 2: me a lot of the dynamic he had that Kyrie

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Speaker 2: had with Lebron James. And there's two phases to this.

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Speaker 2: First shout out to Kyrie Irving because Kyrie Irving's ability

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Speaker 2: to kind of operate on an island by himself is

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Speaker 2: a very unique trait to him that I think makes

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Speaker 2: him super valuable to these do everything forwards like Luca

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Speaker 2: like Lebron James, even like in Nikola Yoki, Right, I

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Speaker 2: think Jamal Murray kind of plays that role for Denver

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Speaker 2: as well.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: And to me, what it is is like this is

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Speaker 2: where Luca's ability to shoot the catch and shoot three,

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Speaker 2: which he really broke out over what game three in

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Speaker 2: Game five of this series in a big way. But

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Speaker 2: like him being able to just stand on the wing

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Speaker 2: twenty six twenty seven feet from the basket and hit

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Speaker 2: catch and shoot threes, that is an important part of

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Speaker 2: his ability to rest while having Kyrie go to work

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Speaker 2: because obviously, if you throw extra defenders at him, Kyrie's

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Speaker 2: got to make reads. But the unique thing with Kyrie

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Speaker 2: is he can dribble the ball out the floor against

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Speaker 2: ball pressure. He can use a ball screen or use

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Speaker 2: a guard guard screen to get a mismatch, and he

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Speaker 2: can go to work on an island, dribble twenty five

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Speaker 2: times in a possession and get a good shot for himself.

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Speaker 2: And it's a unique value for Kyrie. But again, the

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Speaker 2: important Piet is you got to the importantieces. You got

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Speaker 2: to be able to play off the ball, and that

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Speaker 2: requires you to be able to knock down, catch and

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Speaker 2: shoot jump shots, which Luca has been using a little

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Speaker 2: bit more frequently towards the end of this playoff run. Hey, Jason,

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Speaker 2: love the show our Daniel Gafford and Derek Lively examples

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Speaker 2: of what future of what the future of the center

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Speaker 2: position will look like, athletic bigs, solid defenders but with

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Speaker 2: low volume scoring. Love to hear your thoughts. So there's

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Speaker 2: multiple different constructs of NBA offense at this point, and

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Speaker 2: you know there's I'm not going to sit here and

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Speaker 2: pretend like Dallas doesn't have complications. They certainly do. We

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Speaker 2: talked about in Game four. Those you guys who watched

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Speaker 2: the film session are half of the film session because

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Speaker 2: YouTube picked us to pieces on that one was so annoying.

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Speaker 2: I was so frustrated. I spent like four hours on

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Speaker 2: that video. It was like fifty minutes long, and we

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Speaker 2: had to cut almost half of the video out. That

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Speaker 2: was really frustrating for me. But in that video, I

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Speaker 2: think we got to I never went back to watch

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Speaker 2: the edited portion, but I think we were able to

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Speaker 2: keep some of the stuff in the second half, and

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Speaker 2: I showed some of the examples of stack pick and

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Speaker 2: roll that Dallas was running, which is basically where you

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Speaker 2: have a shooter underneath the basket backscreen for the role

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Speaker 2: man as he's coming downhill, and they were doing some

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Speaker 2: damage to go Baar in that respect. So Dallas does

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Speaker 2: run some complications in their offense, but they are more

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Speaker 2: of what I would call a four out one in offense.

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Speaker 2: So there the two primary forms of offense that I

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Speaker 2: see around the NBA right now are four out one

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Speaker 2: in offense and five out offense. And the four out

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Speaker 2: one in offense is very simple, and it's play finishing

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Speaker 2: and play initiation.

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Speaker 1: So it's like.

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Speaker 2: Shooter in the corner, he's not moving, he's standing there.

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Speaker 2: He's taking a corner three. Shooter in the other corner,

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Speaker 2: he's not standing, he's staying there. He's taking a corner three,

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Speaker 2: or he's driving the clothes out right. Same thing for

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Speaker 2: the guy on the right wing, although that guy's usually

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Speaker 2: a secondary shot creator in case Luca needs to bail

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Speaker 2: out from a possession, right and then it's the guy

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Speaker 2: comes up and he sets a ball screen and Luca

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Speaker 2: just works in that ball screen right like that is

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Speaker 2: that to me is like the four out type of offense.

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Speaker 2: It's very like guys are set up to finish plays

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Speaker 2: a vertical spacer. The vertical spacer is your one in right,

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Speaker 2: and then you've got your shooters in the corners and

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Speaker 2: a shooter on the wing.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: Another team who runs a lot of that kind of

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Speaker 2: stuff is like the Atlanta Hawks, for instance, They'll do

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Speaker 2: that with Trey Young, right. So, like, that's to me,

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Speaker 2: the four out kind of construct. Five out construct is

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Speaker 2: where the big man operates more as a dribble handoff

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Speaker 2: folkrum out on the perimeter. This is like Demonas Bonus

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Speaker 2: with the Sacramento Kings. This is Draymond Green with the

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Speaker 2: Golden State Warriors. This is Anthony Davis with the Los

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Speaker 2: Angeles Lakers this year, right Like, this is Nikola Jokic

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Speaker 2: with the Denver Nuggets, right Like, this is much more

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Speaker 2: of an offensive decision making role for the big man.

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Speaker 2: So like, Daniel Gafford and Derek Lively to me, are

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Speaker 2: two very different types of centers. Daniel Gafford to me,

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Speaker 2: is a four out, one in type of center. He's

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Speaker 2: a guy that just wants to set ball screen or

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Speaker 2: is at his best when he's setting ball screens and

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Speaker 2: rolling hard to the rim. And as we know, he

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Speaker 2: can struggle a little bit dealing with making decisions in

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Speaker 2: the short role. Derek Lively can do both. Derek Lively

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Speaker 2: can operate as a four out one in center. He's

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Speaker 2: a good screen and roll big who can vertically space

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Speaker 2: the floor. He also can make decisions in a blitz

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Speaker 2: situations where he has to kind of operate as the

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Speaker 2: decision maker in the four on three. But I also

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Speaker 2: think if I picked up Derek Lively and dropped him

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Speaker 2: onto the Golden State Warriors, I think that he'd be

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Speaker 2: really effective in that five out system because his ability

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Speaker 2: to make read and react decisions with the ball in

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Speaker 2: his hands. But those, to me are the two very

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Speaker 2: different forms of offensive centers. As far as like the

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Speaker 2: future of the center position, it's all about what your

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Speaker 2: offense is, right, Like, there's a case to be made

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Speaker 2: that the Jokic Sabonis type of group, Nurkic type of group,

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Speaker 2: that that is the future of the center position for

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Speaker 2: five out offenses. Like a really good screener that can

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Speaker 2: knock down the occasional jump shot, that is a decision

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Speaker 2: maker in dribblehandoff situations out on the perimeter. So like,

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Speaker 2: I don't think that those guys are the future of

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Speaker 2: the center position. I think they're just an example of

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Speaker 2: what four out one in centers look like. And even then,

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Speaker 2: I think that's an oversimplification because I think Derek Lively

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Speaker 2: could operate in a five out system. Anthony Edwards is

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Speaker 2: the classic guy everyone falls in love with because of

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Speaker 2: his athleticism, but I agree, I don't know if the

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Speaker 2: decision making will ever develop to the level of Jokic

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Speaker 2: or Luka Doncic. So I want to have Anthony Edwards's

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Speaker 2: back here for a minute, because it's not just it's

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Speaker 2: not just the it's not just the athleticism. Obviously that's

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Speaker 2: an important part of it. I'm not gonna sit here

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Speaker 2: and pretend like Ann's athleticism isn't appealing to people, or

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Speaker 2: that that's not part of like kind of the the

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Speaker 2: energy that surrounds him around the league. I just think

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Speaker 2: that we're undertelling how good he was in this postseason. Again,

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Speaker 2: even after that nightmarish Conference Final series, he was twenty

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Speaker 2: eight points per game, seven rebounds and seven assists. Okay,

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Speaker 2: twenty eight, seven and seven. He was forty eight percent

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Speaker 2: from the field, forty percent from three in, eighty one

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Speaker 2: percent from the line. That in true shooting percentage is

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Speaker 2: sixty percent, So he was literally twenty eight seven and

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Speaker 2: seven on sixty percent true shooting. That's not just we're

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Speaker 2: buying the hype. That's not just Anthony Edwards is a

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Speaker 2: media darling. That's fucking awesome basketball. That's awesome basketball for

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Speaker 2: six weeks against Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker

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Speaker 2: and against the defending champs with the best player in

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Speaker 2: the world in Nikole Jokic. And while he was inconsistent

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Speaker 2: defensively in this postseason run, a big part of how

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Speaker 2: they won Game seven was his defense in the second

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Speaker 2: half against Jamal Murray during the entirety of the Minnesota

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Speaker 2: run in the second half where they went from down

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Speaker 2: twenty to up five, he held Jamal Murray scoreless. So again,

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Speaker 2: like there, obviously we're in love with his athleticism, but

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Speaker 2: there's more to it than that. The dude showed real

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Speaker 2: jump shot making ability once again. This is the three

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Speaker 2: third straight postseason where his jump shot has been resilient

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Speaker 2: into the Throughout the playoffs, he's been a really big

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Speaker 2: personality in his ability to kind of like just be

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Speaker 2: fun to watch on television to invigorate his teammates and

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Speaker 2: be a leader like I think I had it. I

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Speaker 2: was annoyed last night because this is something that happens

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Speaker 2: every year, by the way, every year there's like a

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Speaker 2: new team that kind of starts to have some success.

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Speaker 2: Like this year it's Dallas. Last year it was Denver.

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Speaker 2: The year before that, it was gold State, the year

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Speaker 2: before that was Milwaukee, the year before that, it's the Lakers.

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Speaker 2: Right In every single year, their fan base goes, actually,

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Speaker 2: we're the next great team and everyone else sucks and

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Speaker 2: we're amazing. And then we get to the next year

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Speaker 2: and then something happens, they lose, and a new team

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Speaker 2: takes that spot. And in that kind of energy from

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Speaker 2: that fan base, whoever that fan base is, there's this

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Speaker 2: desire to like put everybody else down, Right, Like every

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Speaker 2: Denver fan like just had victory laps on the on

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Speaker 2: the Suns and the Lakers for an entire offseason, right

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Speaker 2: and then it's like then they end up losing in

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Speaker 2: the second round this year. You know, Warriors fans lots

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Speaker 2: of victory laps after the twenty twenty two season, and

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Speaker 2: then the Lakers beat them in twenty twenty two, right,

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Speaker 2: Like at the end of the day, like this stuff

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Speaker 2: tends to be fleeting as a result of the fact

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Speaker 2: that the league is very, very deep. There are certain

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Speaker 2: teams that I think are resilient, Like I do think

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Speaker 2: Denver will be back, right, Like I think Dallas in

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Speaker 2: particular is built for some sustained success over the next

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Speaker 2: few years, so I think they'll be back. But like

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Speaker 2: the idea that these teams are just gonna rip off

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Speaker 2: three four championships in a row, that's just not how

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Speaker 2: this works. And like, for whatever reason, Dallas fans can't

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Speaker 2: just appreciate that they're having success and that they're gonna

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Speaker 2: get praise in the media. It has to be no.

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Speaker 2: But also, Anthony Edwards is a bum and that's just stupid.

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Speaker 2: He averaged twenty eight seven and seven on sixty percent

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Speaker 2: for shooting at twenty two years old in the NBA playoffs.

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Speaker 2: That kid deserves flowers too. As far as Anthony Edwards

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Speaker 2: in the big picture, I pointed this out on Twitter

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Speaker 2: last night. But in Lebron James's age twenty two season,

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Speaker 2: the Spurs embarrassed him. He shot like something crazy like

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Speaker 2: thirty six percent from the field in that series. He

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Speaker 2: shot twenty percent from three, he averaged six turnovers a game.

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Speaker 2: He was nightmarishly bad in that Spurs series. And guess

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Speaker 2: what now? Lebron is like unanimously regarded as at least

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Speaker 2: the second best player of all time, if not the best.

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Speaker 2: So like Anthony Edwards, is he as good as Luka Dancic?

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Speaker 2: Yet no, Luca badly outplayed him in the series and

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Speaker 2: clearly demonstrated a gap between the two of them. Specifically,

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Speaker 2: I think one of the things that this playoff run

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Speaker 2: emphasizes that Anthony Edwards lacks matchup versatility at this point.

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Speaker 2: If he's going against teams without athleticism on the perimeter

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Speaker 2: and rim protection, he's going to demolish you. But as

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Speaker 2: soon as he runs into matchups like that, it gets

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Speaker 2: a little bit more difficult. That's something he's going to

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Speaker 2: have to confront in the future. We're actually going to

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Speaker 2: get to that later on in this show. But don't

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Speaker 2: use this playoff run to bury Anthony Edwards. That's silly.

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Speaker 2: He's going to be back. If you're under the impression

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Speaker 2: that the twenty two year old that average twenty eight,

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Speaker 2: seven and seven in the conference finals to eliminate the

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Speaker 2: defending champs and that super team Sons team. If you're

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Speaker 2: under the impression that he's not going to be back

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Speaker 2: on this stage, you're fooling yourself. He's going to be back,

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Speaker 2: and he's going to be better, and that kid has

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Speaker 2: so much room to grow because of his supreme athletic tools.

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Speaker 2: I do think he's going to be by the time

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Speaker 2: he's Luca's age, by the time he's in that twenty five,

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Speaker 2: twenty six, twenty seven, I think he's going to be

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Speaker 2: on that tier with Jokic, with Luca, with Gianness. He's

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Speaker 2: not there yet, but I think he's going to get there.

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Speaker 2: This is a little context for this question. I ranted

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Speaker 2: at the end of the show last night about how

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Speaker 2: if you look back through NBA history, center like you

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Speaker 2: can't win a championship unless you're center is some kind

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Speaker 2: of offensive threat, either a legitimate like catching finish threat

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Speaker 2: or a perimeter threat, something along those lines, like the

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Speaker 2: last year, obviously Jokic, the year before that, Draymond Green.

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Speaker 2: He's an offensive folkrum in the five out system for

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Speaker 2: Golden State. Even though he has some limitations, he's a

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Speaker 2: much much better offensive player than Rudy Gobert. Twenty twenty one,

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Speaker 2: Brook Lopez twenty twenty two, Anthony Davis right, even in

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Speaker 2: their big looks, like Dwight Howard was like a much

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Speaker 2: better catch and finish player around the rim than Rudy

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Speaker 2: Gobert was twenty nineteen. You know, we had Serge Ibaka

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Speaker 2: and Mark Gasol, right, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green in

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Speaker 2: the seventeen eighteen, Kevin Love in twenty sixteen, Tim Duncan

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Speaker 2: in twenty fourteen. That we can go on and on on,

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Speaker 2: Chris bosh in two thousand, on the heat teams, Derk Novisky,

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Speaker 2: although that team with Tyson Chandler. Tyson Chandler was more

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Speaker 2: like Derek Lively, a much better type of a vertical

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Speaker 2: spacer and decision maker on the role.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: So like in NBA history, you need a center that

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Speaker 2: has at least some offensive capability to win the title.

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Speaker 2: Mail bad question. The other difference between the Rudy build

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Speaker 2: and the Dallas build is that Dallas can win if

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Speaker 2: Lively is making decisions, They're gonna lose if Rudy is

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Speaker 2: getting a lot of offensive touches. Totally agree. Derek Lively

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Speaker 2: to me, is a substantially better offensive player than Rudy Gobert.

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Speaker 2: But the other piece of that too is like some

432
00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:41,320
Speaker 2: of his spacing limitations, like Lively not being a shooter

433
00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:44,560
Speaker 2: is not a problem because one Lively can make those decisions.

434
00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:47,400
Speaker 2: Two Lively is great hands and catches and finishes everything

435
00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:49,760
Speaker 2: around the basket. And then lastly, Luka Doncic is a

436
00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:53,960
Speaker 2: deeply manipulative passer that can get really high quality opportunities

437
00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:56,879
Speaker 2: around the basket. The problem for Rudy is he's not

438
00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:00,000
Speaker 2: playing with that level of playmaker and he has stone hands,

439
00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:02,480
Speaker 2: Andy can't make decisions on the role. It's like the

440
00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:05,800
Speaker 2: trifecta disaster for trying to score in the half court

441
00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:11,760
Speaker 2: against an elite defense. Minnesota clearly disintegrated under Luca's barrage

442
00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,200
Speaker 2: of points, but they were also down against Denver by

443
00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:16,600
Speaker 2: twenty and still found a way to come back. What

444
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:19,800
Speaker 2: was different between Minnesota versus Denver Game seven and this

445
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:23,040
Speaker 2: game and why wasn't Mina Minnesota able to compose themselves

446
00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:25,720
Speaker 2: like they did against Denver. Love your videos, by the way,

447
00:21:26,359 --> 00:21:29,720
Speaker 2: really simple to me. In the Denver series, Anthony Edwards

448
00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:31,439
Speaker 2: and this kind of you know, I was talking with

449
00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:35,000
Speaker 2: Adamatos about this last night because he pointed out fairly

450
00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:38,840
Speaker 2: Dallas or that Denver actually had a better defensive rating

451
00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:41,760
Speaker 2: against Minnesota than Dallas did. But some of the data

452
00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,720
Speaker 2: there is a little tricky because that was like two

453
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:49,960
Speaker 2: different series, Like Minnesota dominated Denver outside of the middle

454
00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:52,040
Speaker 2: portion of the series. Like Minnesota in the four wins

455
00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:54,959
Speaker 2: whooped the shit out of Denver, right, and then you

456
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,240
Speaker 2: look at the middle three games in Minnesota or in

457
00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:00,000
Speaker 2: Denver beat the shit out of Minnesota in those three games, right,

458
00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:02,720
Speaker 2: So the data is all wonky. And if you looked

459
00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:06,919
Speaker 2: at it, Denver had a one sixteen defensive rating against

460
00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:09,439
Speaker 2: Minnesota in their losses, but they had a one oh

461
00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:12,720
Speaker 2: six defensive rating in the wins. So like, if you

462
00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:14,560
Speaker 2: look at it, it's like in those three wins, in

463
00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:18,080
Speaker 2: game three, four, and five, Denver locked down Minnesota's offense.

464
00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:21,840
Speaker 2: That's great, but you got destroyed in the other four games.

465
00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:24,960
Speaker 2: The Dallas series was very different. In every single game

466
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:28,199
Speaker 2: of the series, Dallas guarded Minnesota well, they held him.

467
00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:30,760
Speaker 2: It was like one twelve defensive rating in their wins

468
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,880
Speaker 2: in one thirteen in the one loss. So in terms

469
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:37,240
Speaker 2: of like consistently holding down Minnesota's offense, Dallas was way

470
00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:41,679
Speaker 2: better than Denver in the four losses. Denver just couldn't

471
00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:45,199
Speaker 2: get stops against Minnesota. Specifically, what stood out to me

472
00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:49,800
Speaker 2: on film, Anthony Edwards in the Denver series averaged seven

473
00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:53,640
Speaker 2: point one attempts in the restricted area per game. In

474
00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:57,120
Speaker 2: this series against Dallas, he averaged just five point eight

475
00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:00,000
Speaker 2: restricted area attempts per game, so that's one point three

476
00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:04,919
Speaker 2: few were attempts. He also shot nineteen percent worse in

477
00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:07,720
Speaker 2: the restricted area against Dallas than he did against Denver.

478
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,160
Speaker 2: He shot fifty five percent in the restricted area against

479
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:14,040
Speaker 2: Dallas seventy four percent against Denver. And so for me,

480
00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:16,520
Speaker 2: what stood out was every time there was a half

481
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:20,000
Speaker 2: court situation, Anthony Edwards didn't really know what to do

482
00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:23,960
Speaker 2: against Dallas, whereas against Denver, he just felt like he

483
00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:26,440
Speaker 2: could get to his spots more easily at the rim

484
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:28,720
Speaker 2: and debt. That's why Denver had to just start hard

485
00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:31,240
Speaker 2: doubling all over the place. Now, Dallas also did some

486
00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:35,600
Speaker 2: doubling against against Minnesota as well, but they have more

487
00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:38,040
Speaker 2: rim protection and athleticism on the back line, which allowed

488
00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:41,360
Speaker 2: them to rotate out of it better than Denver did.

489
00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:43,960
Speaker 2: Like they would load up the side against Ant and

490
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:45,600
Speaker 2: then he'd swing, swing, and then all of a sudden,

491
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:47,919
Speaker 2: nas Reed would be slashing a close out and Dallas.

492
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:51,880
Speaker 2: Denver just didn't have the athleticism to hang on that backside, right,

493
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,320
Speaker 2: And so like the Denver series, by the way, I'm

494
00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:57,880
Speaker 2: only talking about one side of the floor. The offensive

495
00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:02,200
Speaker 2: side was the same. Like in the Denver series, Minnesota

496
00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:04,160
Speaker 2: held them to something crazy like one hundred and six

497
00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:07,760
Speaker 2: points per one hundred possessions for the entire series, whereas

498
00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:10,280
Speaker 2: Dallas averaged like one hundred and eighteen points per one

499
00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:15,000
Speaker 2: hundred possessions. So Dallas's offense was way better against Minnesota's

500
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,159
Speaker 2: defense than Denver's offense was. And so really in the

501
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:21,159
Speaker 2: Denver series, it was like Minnesota actually was capable of

502
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:25,320
Speaker 2: slowing down Denver's offense and they were actually able to score,

503
00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:28,359
Speaker 2: whereas against Dallas they couldn't do either. And so that's why,

504
00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:30,760
Speaker 2: even though there was another large deficit, I just never

505
00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:33,399
Speaker 2: felt like Minnesota had a shot to come back in

506
00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:38,760
Speaker 2: that game. My jaw dropped watching Lively at the level

507
00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:40,359
Speaker 2: of the screen stick with Ant as he tried to

508
00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:42,840
Speaker 2: string Lively out to attack the rim. He literally had

509
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:45,480
Speaker 2: to reset the offense with his defense in space at

510
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:48,080
Speaker 2: seven feet, his rim protection and a short roll passing.

511
00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:51,880
Speaker 2: What are we watching some horrifying fusion of Draymond and AD.

512
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:54,600
Speaker 2: I wouldn't go that far. I feel like that's a

513
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:58,240
Speaker 2: little early and a little bit hyperbolic. But I am

514
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:00,719
Speaker 2: really really excited to see the tie of player that

515
00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:04,560
Speaker 2: Derek Lively becomes. I imagine him being like a Tyson

516
00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:08,560
Speaker 2: Chandler two point zero, like an evolutionary vertical spacer that

517
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:11,120
Speaker 2: has the ability to run five out to operate more

518
00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:14,480
Speaker 2: in space. I actually think he's got good touch, so

519
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:16,439
Speaker 2: I'm really curious to see over the years if he

520
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:18,919
Speaker 2: adds a pick and pop element to his game. Like

521
00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:21,479
Speaker 2: I think Derek Lively can be very very good. But

522
00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:24,399
Speaker 2: like you're fusing Draymond and Ad is fusing the two

523
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:25,880
Speaker 2: best defensive players of this era.

524
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:27,600
Speaker 1: I would slow down a little bit on that.

525
00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,439
Speaker 2: I think we need to see him actually anchor a

526
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:33,000
Speaker 2: defense for eighty two games, playing thirty two to thirty

527
00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:35,080
Speaker 2: four minutes a night before we start throwing him in

528
00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:38,600
Speaker 2: those conversations. But that certainly is potential that Derek Lively has,

529
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:40,240
Speaker 2: and I'm really really excited to see if he can

530
00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:44,439
Speaker 2: meet that over the course of his career. The issue

531
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:46,960
Speaker 2: with the idea of Minnesota moving away from their amazing

532
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:50,040
Speaker 2: inside defense and focusing mostly on perimeter defense is that

533
00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:52,000
Speaker 2: you do not beat Denver in a seven game series

534
00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:55,840
Speaker 2: if you value perimeter D more than inside D and

535
00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:58,080
Speaker 2: without the double big man setup you cannot slow down

536
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,119
Speaker 2: yolkis the te Wolves do not beat Denver if they

537
00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:01,280
Speaker 2: do not have Gobert at the five.

538
00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:02,679
Speaker 1: I actually disagree about this.

539
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,040
Speaker 2: As good as go Beart was in this playoff run

540
00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:06,359
Speaker 2: on the defensive end of the floor, and I do

541
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:09,160
Speaker 2: think his defensive effort in this postseason was underrated based

542
00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:11,080
Speaker 2: on some of the low lights of him getting hunted

543
00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:14,359
Speaker 2: and just some of the narrative stuff surrounding him. I

544
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:18,119
Speaker 2: thought the bigger factor in Denver struggling against Minnesota was

545
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:21,280
Speaker 2: Naz reading Karl Anthony Towns, and it's because those guys

546
00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:24,400
Speaker 2: could hold up under the bully ball attack of Jokic

547
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:28,200
Speaker 2: because of their bigger frames, right, Like I actually thought

548
00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:32,520
Speaker 2: Gobert got mostly fried by Jokic in that series, and

549
00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:34,920
Speaker 2: then by the end of the series, Jokic kind of

550
00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:37,919
Speaker 2: had figured out the stunting that Gobert was doing and

551
00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:40,520
Speaker 2: that was a big part of how Denver got back

552
00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:42,840
Speaker 2: into it because Jokic was just killing him in that

553
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,280
Speaker 2: middle portion of the series. That like, obviously it's gonna

554
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:49,080
Speaker 2: be tougher to beat Denver if you don't have Gobert,

555
00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:51,639
Speaker 2: but I still think they can because they'll have a

556
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,560
Speaker 2: two big look with Naz reading Karl Anthony Towns. And

557
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:58,879
Speaker 2: this is in this scenario that I've discussed, if they

558
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:01,399
Speaker 2: pivot off of Go Bear, they would upgrade that power

559
00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:03,879
Speaker 2: forward spot to a really high level offensive player. And

560
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:07,120
Speaker 2: let's not forget that during the stretches were Denver dominated

561
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:10,280
Speaker 2: in that series, they really slowed down Minnesota's offense. And

562
00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:12,920
Speaker 2: so again, I think you can still build a team

563
00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:15,280
Speaker 2: that can beat Denver without Rudy Gobert. And it doesn't

564
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:19,000
Speaker 2: matter if the Go Bear lineup can beat Denver, but

565
00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:21,359
Speaker 2: you get your ass kicked by Dallas because Go Bear's

566
00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:23,720
Speaker 2: stonehands and his inability to make decisions on the role,

567
00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:26,560
Speaker 2: then you're not in any sort of better position anyway.

568
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:28,639
Speaker 2: It's not about beating Denver to win the title. You

569
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,159
Speaker 2: got to be four teams to win the title, so

570
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:33,320
Speaker 2: you might have to sacrifice a little bit of your

571
00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:35,800
Speaker 2: capability to beat Denver to make yourself more versatile to

572
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,560
Speaker 2: beat the other teams around the league. Hey, Jason, love

573
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:41,520
Speaker 2: your show. Such an enjoyment. To hear your breakdowns after

574
00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:44,280
Speaker 2: each playoff game helps appreciate the game at a whole

575
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,320
Speaker 2: new level. Thank you for the kind words. Want to

576
00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:49,560
Speaker 2: hear your thoughts on the Wolves. People say defense wins championships. However,

577
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:51,080
Speaker 2: when I look at the Timberwolves, it seems like they

578
00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:53,720
Speaker 2: really lack an offensive identity. How could it be fair

579
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:55,720
Speaker 2: to expect the cat to play well when he could

580
00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,200
Speaker 2: get benched when Reid plays a bit better one night,

581
00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:00,760
Speaker 2: or his defense simply that much more important than knowing

582
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:02,760
Speaker 2: how many shots or reps are going to get each night.

583
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:06,600
Speaker 2: For example, Kat having dumbfouls versus getting consistent shots each game.

584
00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:07,760
Speaker 1: What do you think?

585
00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:11,480
Speaker 2: So? I don't think that specifically has anything to do

586
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:16,320
Speaker 2: with it. I think it's just about team construct. So Karl,

587
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:19,439
Speaker 2: Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, what types of offensive players

588
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 2: are they? They are shooters and drivers. That's what they

589
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:28,240
Speaker 2: do best, right, Neither of them are elite playmakers. They're capable,

590
00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:30,440
Speaker 2: and it's just averaged seven assists in a playoff run.

591
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:32,600
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to act like they can't make plays,

592
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:36,639
Speaker 2: but they are not Luka Doncz, Chris Paul Nikola, Jokic,

593
00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:40,320
Speaker 2: Lebron James level playmakers. That's not their game. Those guys are.

594
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:43,000
Speaker 2: They're the entirety of their game is predicated on downhill

595
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:45,520
Speaker 2: rim pressure and pull up shooting over the top. Right,

596
00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:48,240
Speaker 2: That's what they're built on, and so you need to

597
00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:51,040
Speaker 2: build the you need to build the roster around their

598
00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:54,920
Speaker 2: skill set. Let's not forget this team was seventeenth in

599
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:59,600
Speaker 2: offensive rating all season. This team was had a one

600
00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,320
Speaker 2: hundred in four offensive rating in crunch time, they were

601
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,440
Speaker 2: a god awful crunch time offense. This was a consistent

602
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:08,880
Speaker 2: issue all year that two favorable matchups against Denver and

603
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:11,640
Speaker 2: Phoenix made it look like their offense was better than

604
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:13,800
Speaker 2: it actually was. Then they ran into a team with

605
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:17,880
Speaker 2: rim protection and got strangled. So the reality is is

606
00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:21,080
Speaker 2: this team has a flawed offensive construct and they will

607
00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:23,760
Speaker 2: eventually run into teams. We talked last night about the

608
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,120
Speaker 2: standings and looking at the different teams with rim protection,

609
00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:29,840
Speaker 2: and I mentioned OKC, and I mentioned the Lakers, and

610
00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:32,560
Speaker 2: I mentioned Dallas another big team I missed, and there's

611
00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:35,280
Speaker 2: Memphis Memphis could rejoin the picture next year. They will

612
00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:37,560
Speaker 2: rejoin the picture next year, and it's gonna be a

613
00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:40,000
Speaker 2: lot of Jaron Jackson and Brandon Clark on that frontline,

614
00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 2: and they have guys that can guard on the perimeter,

615
00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:46,880
Speaker 2: Like it's going to be similar challenges if you run

616
00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:49,400
Speaker 2: into a Memphis. So like half of the playoff field

617
00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:51,880
Speaker 2: next year is going to be elite rim protectors again,

618
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 2: and so this is gonna be a problem that they

619
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 2: have to deal with in the future. And so to me,

620
00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:59,680
Speaker 2: they have to build a construct in this roster that

621
00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:02,800
Speaker 2: is less reliant on Cat and Anthony Edwards's ability to

622
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,960
Speaker 2: pick apart the defense because it's not just the Rudy piece.

623
00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:09,120
Speaker 2: Like Rudy obviously is a problem because he can't catch

624
00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:12,520
Speaker 2: and finish consistently, but Dallas was throwing a lot of

625
00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:17,280
Speaker 2: late help and Cat meaning like Ant would drive and

626
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:18,920
Speaker 2: then the low man would just bail out of the

627
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:20,640
Speaker 2: corner and come over a wall up on Ant like

628
00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:22,400
Speaker 2: as he's getting into the lane. So he's not just

629
00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:26,160
Speaker 2: challenging Gafford or just challenging Lively, He's challenging multiple bodies

630
00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 2: in there. And Ant is not the kind of player

631
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:32,240
Speaker 2: like Luca or like those other playmakers I mentioned, who's

632
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:34,840
Speaker 2: just gonna pick you apart by making those last second

633
00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:38,160
Speaker 2: reads really effectively. So you have to make things easier

634
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 2: on your stars. If you're gonna be built around Cat

635
00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:44,200
Speaker 2: and Anthony Edwards, you have to generate natural spacing so

636
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:48,680
Speaker 2: they can have really simple shoot drive pass reads. You

637
00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:50,800
Speaker 2: have to make it very simple for them. That to

638
00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:52,880
Speaker 2: me is the direction that they have to go in

639
00:30:52,960 --> 00:31:00,080
Speaker 2: terms of their roster construction as the Wolves fan and

640
00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:02,800
Speaker 2: I find your argument about Edwards and Gobert's fit very coaching.

641
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,400
Speaker 2: Something Ant can never seem to figure out is lobs

642
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:08,120
Speaker 2: to Rudy, he has shown flashes, but can never put

643
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:09,959
Speaker 2: it together when he needs it. I do wonder what

644
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:11,880
Speaker 2: five would work best for him, maybe at Goberart For

645
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:14,920
Speaker 2: Miles Turner trade, great analysis as always, thanks again for

646
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:18,120
Speaker 2: the kind words. That's an example like go Behar and

647
00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:20,840
Speaker 2: Miles Turner, that trade probably won't ever happen, especially with

648
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,240
Speaker 2: the dollar amounts. Gobert makes a ton of money and

649
00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:24,960
Speaker 2: that's going to make the trade difficult. As I said

650
00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:27,320
Speaker 2: last night, I actually think Gobert probably ends up staying

651
00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:30,280
Speaker 2: in Minnesota just by virtue of the realities of the contract,

652
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:32,840
Speaker 2: and he's got a player option that he's almost certainly

653
00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:36,000
Speaker 2: going to accept. So Gobert basically has two years left

654
00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:37,880
Speaker 2: on his current deal, and it's very possible that he's

655
00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:39,800
Speaker 2: in Minnesota for both of those. But that is the

656
00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:41,520
Speaker 2: type of swap that would make some sense for me

657
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:43,440
Speaker 2: in the sense that Miles Turner is a pick and

658
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:46,200
Speaker 2: pop big, that would make for easy because like again

659
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:49,360
Speaker 2: drop coverage like Dallas is running with Gafford and Lively.

660
00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:50,920
Speaker 1: The perfect counter for that.

661
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,160
Speaker 2: Is a pick and pop because that puts that big

662
00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:55,800
Speaker 2: in a really tough position where if he drops and

663
00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:58,880
Speaker 2: and just throws simple kickback passes, it's wide open threes

664
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:01,080
Speaker 2: all night for Miles turn If he doesn't drop and

665
00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:03,320
Speaker 2: he stays home with the role man, then with the

666
00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:05,760
Speaker 2: popping big, then Ant can turn the corner and get

667
00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:07,600
Speaker 2: in the lane and there's no rim protection in there. So,

668
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:10,760
Speaker 2: like a shooting center is ideal. But I think their

669
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:13,960
Speaker 2: best bet there is to try to flip Rudy to

670
00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:17,720
Speaker 2: a team that is actually willing to aggregate the salaries

671
00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,440
Speaker 2: if they can, and target something more along the lines

672
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:22,720
Speaker 2: of a power forward, and I have Kat be that

673
00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:27,080
Speaker 2: shooting big. I really do think that Kat if you

674
00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:29,400
Speaker 2: simplify his role as well, because again he's driving and

675
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:31,800
Speaker 2: dealing with the Gobert problem just as much as Ant is.

676
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:34,160
Speaker 2: And so for me, like if you if you could

677
00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:38,720
Speaker 2: get a Portland to trade you a Jeremy Grant for

678
00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:41,160
Speaker 2: a Rudy Gobert or something along those lines, if you

679
00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:43,280
Speaker 2: could are a three team deal that sends eight and

680
00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:46,080
Speaker 2: r Gobert to a different destination. If you could do

681
00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:48,520
Speaker 2: something like that, that to me is where I view

682
00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:51,719
Speaker 2: the ultimate version of this team is Ant and Kat

683
00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:55,080
Speaker 2: playing in a space floor surrounded by shooting guys that

684
00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:58,200
Speaker 2: can defend guys like Jada McDaniels, guys like Jeremy Grant.

685
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:00,840
Speaker 2: If it ends up being Mike Conley different player in

686
00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:02,560
Speaker 2: the future, that to me is the direction I would

687
00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:05,360
Speaker 2: eventually go as far as go Bear though, yeah, like

688
00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:06,720
Speaker 2: I think he has to play on a team that

689
00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:09,360
Speaker 2: has an elite playmaker. I think that's the only type

690
00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:11,880
Speaker 2: of team that he would be able to actually win

691
00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:16,760
Speaker 2: at the highest levels with. With Dallas advancing to the finals,

692
00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:19,520
Speaker 2: there's a debate going around on who are the best backcourt?

693
00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:22,600
Speaker 2: Who is the best backcourt in NBA history? Growing watching

694
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:24,480
Speaker 2: Golden State when I was in high school. I don't

695
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:26,840
Speaker 2: think there's a better backcourt than Stephan Clay. I want

696
00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:29,280
Speaker 2: to know what rank do you have for them? If

697
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 2: there is one better backcourt than them, who would it be.

698
00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:33,560
Speaker 2: Thank you for your ANALYSI has been a huge fan

699
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:35,640
Speaker 2: of you so far this year and a half that

700
00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:37,360
Speaker 2: I've been following you on YouTube. Thanks again for the

701
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:38,000
Speaker 2: kind words and.

702
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:38,520
Speaker 1: For the support.

703
00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:42,400
Speaker 2: This question is frustrating to me because I really don't

704
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:44,320
Speaker 2: look at it as like backcourt. To me, it's like

705
00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:48,600
Speaker 2: permitter players, interior players. It's really that simple. Like, for instance,

706
00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:52,240
Speaker 2: Luca functions kind of like a point guard offensively, but

707
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:56,000
Speaker 2: on defense, he's not guarding guards like Derek Jones Junior

708
00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:58,920
Speaker 2: is and Kyrie Irving is and so like to me,

709
00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:01,600
Speaker 2: like focusing on who the backcourt is is silly. It's

710
00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:03,800
Speaker 2: like Steph Curry. Like Steph Curry for the most part

711
00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:07,040
Speaker 2: is being hidden defensively as much possibly as he can

712
00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:09,440
Speaker 2: because he's got such a big offensive role, right, So

713
00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:12,239
Speaker 2: like to me, it's more like duos. And when you're

714
00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:14,960
Speaker 2: ranking duos, ranking Luca and Kyrie is a much more

715
00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:18,120
Speaker 2: complicated topic because you're looking against you know, hundreds of

716
00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:20,399
Speaker 2: duos over the course of the last few decades, right,

717
00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:22,319
Speaker 2: So like that's something that's more of something that we

718
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:24,799
Speaker 2: get into in the offseason. But to me, I don't

719
00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:30,680
Speaker 2: really find the conversation around best backcourt even a relevant

720
00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:33,320
Speaker 2: here because I don't look at Luca as a traditional

721
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:37,040
Speaker 2: backcourt player. To me, Luca represents where the game has changed,

722
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:40,120
Speaker 2: which is and your best player has the ball in

723
00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:43,200
Speaker 2: his hands, you know, Like Lebron James plays power forward

724
00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:46,080
Speaker 2: for the Lakers, and he ran the point a lot

725
00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:50,040
Speaker 2: in this postseason run for the Lakers, right, but he's

726
00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:52,080
Speaker 2: not guarding point guards, right, So Like to me, I

727
00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:54,480
Speaker 2: don't look at them as a backcourt. I just look

728
00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:56,480
Speaker 2: at them as a star duo, the way I'd look

729
00:34:56,520 --> 00:35:02,400
Speaker 2: at Paul George and Kawhi Leonard for instance. Hi Jason,

730
00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:04,719
Speaker 2: I agree with your Gobert assessment, but Kat has more

731
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:06,400
Speaker 2: trade value, So I think he'll be the one that

732
00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:09,200
Speaker 2: gets moved and Nas shifts to a starting power forward role.

733
00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:10,879
Speaker 2: If that happens, where do you think is the best

734
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:13,320
Speaker 2: landing spot for Kat? Detroit has the cap space to

735
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:15,800
Speaker 2: absorb him as the starting center. They immediately get a

736
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:17,840
Speaker 2: go to score and a floor spacer to help Caden

737
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:20,359
Speaker 2: Ivy a sar Can mimic the McDaniels role as well

738
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:22,960
Speaker 2: as anyone. New Orleans is another option. The Pels get

739
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:24,840
Speaker 2: their center, they could space the floor for Zion to

740
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:27,759
Speaker 2: attack the rim and Ingram McDaniel's Gobar front court has

741
00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:30,000
Speaker 2: plenty of length. Any other spots that come to mind,

742
00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:33,400
Speaker 2: All those make sense to me. Another couple that I

743
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:36,800
Speaker 2: looked at Milwaukee, like Carl Anthony Towns next to Giannis

744
00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:40,640
Speaker 2: would be a really interesting type of build Miami. I

745
00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:43,880
Speaker 2: think a huge lineup with bam Adebayo and Karl Anthony

746
00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:46,680
Speaker 2: Towns could be interesting. Oklahoma City was another one I

747
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:49,160
Speaker 2: thought of, Like imagine Chet Holmgren as more of the

748
00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:52,080
Speaker 2: role Rim protector, basically just putting Kat next to a

749
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:55,040
Speaker 2: shooting version of Go Bear, And that's the type of

750
00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:58,680
Speaker 2: situation you could have there. But like again, I wouldn't

751
00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:02,560
Speaker 2: trade Karl Anthony town simply because I think Gobar is

752
00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,360
Speaker 2: a much bigger issue and anytime you start flipping a

753
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:09,000
Speaker 2: player like Cats really hard to replace his value, especially

754
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:11,480
Speaker 2: considering like in a lot of postseason situations this year,

755
00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:17,799
Speaker 2: he was one of their more reliable scorers, and I

756
00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:20,839
Speaker 2: say that as he was still inconsistent, but in terms

757
00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:23,359
Speaker 2: of guys next to Aunt, he was probably the most

758
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:26,480
Speaker 2: consistent scorer, certainly was the most consistent scorer of that group.

759
00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:29,439
Speaker 2: Three more questions. Dallas is playing out of their minds,

760
00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:31,600
Speaker 2: can't miss a shot? Fun to watch, looks like the

761
00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:35,080
Speaker 2: Serbian Slovenian Balkan brothers of Joki chu Luka will dominate

762
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:37,560
Speaker 2: two years in a row. But overall, as a very

763
00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:40,239
Speaker 2: long term NBA fan, this year's playoffs have been disappointing.

764
00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:41,759
Speaker 2: I thought this was going to be one of the

765
00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:44,600
Speaker 2: most competitive playoffs ever, and it's been one blowout after another.

766
00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:47,040
Speaker 2: Even the Nuggets Wolves series that went seven didn't have

767
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:49,160
Speaker 2: a single game that was really competitive or interesting. One

768
00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:51,640
Speaker 2: of the most boring playoff stretches I've ever seen. Hoping

769
00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:54,360
Speaker 2: the Dallas Boston series will actually be interesting and worth watching,

770
00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:57,480
Speaker 2: so I'm actually more optimistic about it. I think there's

771
00:36:57,480 --> 00:37:00,399
Speaker 2: an important piece of context that kind of throw all.

772
00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:01,000
Speaker 1: Of this in a mix.

773
00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:04,560
Speaker 2: Every year in the playoffs, there are competitive matchups and

774
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:08,239
Speaker 2: there are bad matchups, right for instance, like even this

775
00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:11,040
Speaker 2: Western Conference final series that was five games, I thought

776
00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:14,160
Speaker 2: it was a highly entertaining five games because every game

777
00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:17,960
Speaker 2: was super competitive, right, Whereas like Minnesota, Denver goes seven,

778
00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:21,320
Speaker 2: but every game's a blowout. Right, that's normal. In the playoffs,

779
00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:23,560
Speaker 2: there are a series where teams where the games or

780
00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:25,799
Speaker 2: blowouts are. A series where every game is close like

781
00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:28,759
Speaker 2: that is typical. The problem is is we didn't get

782
00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:32,759
Speaker 2: as much of the competitive series because the Eastern Excuse me,

783
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:35,000
Speaker 2: because of what happened in the Eastern Conference. And there's

784
00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:38,080
Speaker 2: two things that happened in the Eastern Conference. I thought

785
00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:40,279
Speaker 2: there were five good teams in the East this year.

786
00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:44,320
Speaker 2: I thought it was Boston, Milwaukee, Indiana, New York, and Philly.

787
00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:47,280
Speaker 2: Those to me were the good teams. Orlando, Cleveland, Miami

788
00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:51,880
Speaker 2: without Jimmy Butler after the injury, just not legitimate competitive

789
00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:52,640
Speaker 2: basketball teams.

790
00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:52,839
Speaker 1: Right.

791
00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:55,480
Speaker 2: First of all, all three of those teams ended up

792
00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:56,880
Speaker 2: in Boston side of the bracket.

793
00:37:57,160 --> 00:37:58,200
Speaker 1: Problem number one.

794
00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:00,680
Speaker 2: Now Boston doesn't even have to play a real team

795
00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 2: for four weeks, right. Second side of it, everyone got

796
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:07,120
Speaker 2: hurt and Bee's playing on a bad knee at the

797
00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:11,200
Speaker 2: Knicks literally had like seventeen different injuries. Tyres Halliburton falls

798
00:38:11,239 --> 00:38:13,400
Speaker 2: apart at the end of the Pacer series in the

799
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:18,560
Speaker 2: Conference finals, the one I'm missing, Oh Milwaukee, Giannis misses

800
00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:21,439
Speaker 2: the entire series, and Dame misses part of it. Right,

801
00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:25,759
Speaker 2: So like all, like if that had balanced better, Like

802
00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:27,919
Speaker 2: if two of the good teams were on the same

803
00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:29,640
Speaker 2: side with Boston and the other two were on the

804
00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:31,719
Speaker 2: other side and Boston had to play a real team

805
00:38:31,719 --> 00:38:34,480
Speaker 2: in the second round and everyone was healthy, I think

806
00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:37,399
Speaker 2: we would have had more competitive basketball games to kind

807
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:40,000
Speaker 2: of balance everything out. But because the East was a

808
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:43,759
Speaker 2: basically a shit show, the only real good series there

809
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:48,040
Speaker 2: was like New York Philly, Right, the Indiana New York

810
00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:50,560
Speaker 2: series wasn't very entertaining because they were all blowouts after

811
00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:54,520
Speaker 2: the first three games. But like that, the East being

812
00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:56,400
Speaker 2: a shit show kind of made it so that we

813
00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:59,040
Speaker 2: didn't have as much competitive basketball. But I still thought

814
00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:01,040
Speaker 2: there were a lot of really inner retaining games that

815
00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:04,799
Speaker 2: Lakers Nuggets series. For a five game series, every game

816
00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:08,800
Speaker 2: was super entertaining, and we had two buzzer beating game winners.

817
00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:09,040
Speaker 1: Right.

818
00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:12,920
Speaker 2: I thought that Dallas first the Clippers was pretty entertaining.

819
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:16,120
Speaker 2: I thought Dallas first Oklahoma City was a highly entertaining series.

820
00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:19,319
Speaker 2: Dallas versus Minnesota. A lot of that has to do

821
00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:21,880
Speaker 2: with Dallas there. We talked so much about Dallas and

822
00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:24,480
Speaker 2: Luca and Kyrie. Their defense is one of the primary

823
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:27,000
Speaker 2: drivers of their success. That's a big part about how

824
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:29,279
Speaker 2: all those games are close, right, I thought there were

825
00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:32,240
Speaker 2: plenty of entertaining basketball games. And also I think Dallas

826
00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:34,239
Speaker 2: vers Boston is going to be an awesome NBA final.

827
00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:37,759
Speaker 2: I'm very excited for it. Hi, Jason, big fan of

828
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:39,319
Speaker 2: the show. I know it's a bit irrelevant, but I'm

829
00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:41,759
Speaker 2: just curious. If Denver had beaten the Minnesota Timberwolves in

830
00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:45,000
Speaker 2: Game seven and advanced to the Western Conference Finals, who

831
00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:46,920
Speaker 2: do you think would have won? Between Denver and Dallas.

832
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:48,400
Speaker 2: I would have picked Denver over Dallas. There are a

833
00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:50,680
Speaker 2: couple of key specific matchups there that would have picked

834
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:54,760
Speaker 2: that would have skewed towards Denver. First, Dallas's defensive personnel

835
00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:56,840
Speaker 2: is very much set up to handle a guy like

836
00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:59,239
Speaker 2: ant It's not very set up to handle a guy

837
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:02,520
Speaker 2: like Nicole Jokis. Both Gafford and Lively struggle to handle him.

838
00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:04,040
Speaker 2: On an island, they would have been in double teams

839
00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:07,400
Speaker 2: the entire series. It would have been a problem. And

840
00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:09,720
Speaker 2: then on the other end of the floor, the problem

841
00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:11,839
Speaker 2: that Minnesota had is they never had a big, strong

842
00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:15,000
Speaker 2: enough perimeter defender to handle Luca. And that's literally what

843
00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:17,560
Speaker 2: Aaron Gordon's specialty is. I've seen him do it against Lebron,

844
00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:19,160
Speaker 2: I've seen him do it against Jimmy Butler. I've seen

845
00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:21,440
Speaker 2: him do it against Kevin Durrant. Aaron Gordon's one of

846
00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:24,239
Speaker 2: the best big foward defenders in the league. That would

847
00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:28,080
Speaker 2: have been a much better matchup for Denver in that series,

848
00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:30,120
Speaker 2: and so again it would have been close. I would

849
00:40:30,160 --> 00:40:32,279
Speaker 2: have probably picked Denver in six or seven games, but

850
00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:34,520
Speaker 2: I would have picked Denver, And as you mentioned, it's

851
00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:38,120
Speaker 2: irrelevant because Denver couldn't beat Minnesota. And that's just how

852
00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:41,800
Speaker 2: these Dallas fans are all super sensitive about this, similar

853
00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:43,640
Speaker 2: to what I talked about earlier, where it's like the

854
00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:48,200
Speaker 2: sensitivity surrounding like just needing to trash Anthony Edwards. The

855
00:40:48,239 --> 00:40:50,279
Speaker 2: other piece of it is like Dallas fans are super

856
00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:52,440
Speaker 2: sensitive about you saying that they got a good matchup,

857
00:40:52,480 --> 00:40:54,600
Speaker 2: and it's like no one ever won a title without

858
00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:57,680
Speaker 2: getting some good matchups along the way, Like there is

859
00:40:57,719 --> 00:41:01,400
Speaker 2: no such thing in this field as the ultimate dominant team.

860
00:41:01,719 --> 00:41:04,160
Speaker 2: I love this Dallas Mavericks team. They're a bona fide

861
00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:06,960
Speaker 2: championship contender. I had them third in my contender rankings

862
00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:10,520
Speaker 2: coming into this postseason run. Makes sense that if Denver lost,

863
00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:12,640
Speaker 2: they'd be the team that would get in. Right, one

864
00:41:12,719 --> 00:41:16,399
Speaker 2: hundred percent on the Dallas bandwagon, they were a five seed.

865
00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:19,800
Speaker 2: This is not this is not the seventy three win Warriors.

866
00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:21,920
Speaker 2: This is not the Kadie Steph Warriors. They're not just

867
00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:25,600
Speaker 2: gonna obliterate everyone who comes in front of them. They're

868
00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:28,480
Speaker 2: a Boston is a minus two to twenty favorite in

869
00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:31,600
Speaker 2: the finals according to DraftKings right now. So like, again,

870
00:41:32,239 --> 00:41:36,360
Speaker 2: everybody has to benefit from matchups unless you're one of

871
00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:39,120
Speaker 2: the all time great teams in NBA history. And as

872
00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:41,399
Speaker 2: good as this Dallas team is, they are not one

873
00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:43,719
Speaker 2: of the all time great teams in NBA history. And

874
00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:47,520
Speaker 2: so again, like it doesn't matter. Dallas is a deserving

875
00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:52,239
Speaker 2: NBA finalist. But like, yeah, if I personally would have

876
00:41:52,239 --> 00:41:54,160
Speaker 2: picked Denver if they made it to the Western Conference finals,

877
00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:55,640
Speaker 2: would have been close, but I would have picked Denver.

878
00:41:56,520 --> 00:41:59,759
Speaker 2: I don't understand the Gobert hate. My numbers could be

879
00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:01,920
Speaker 2: a bit fuzzy, but in this playoff run, the Timberwolves

880
00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:03,840
Speaker 2: allowed one hundred and ten points per one hundred possesions

881
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:05,760
Speaker 2: with him on the court one thirty three with him off.

882
00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:08,319
Speaker 2: Why is this fringe player that is going to come

883
00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:10,920
Speaker 2: in and essentially make a plus twenty swing. The issue

884
00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:13,320
Speaker 2: is at not being good enough with the mediocre offensive

885
00:42:13,320 --> 00:42:16,160
Speaker 2: talent on the roster to overcome good defense. If you

886
00:42:16,239 --> 00:42:18,560
Speaker 2: actually think that Anthony Edwards is a bigger problem for

887
00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:20,399
Speaker 2: this Timberwolves team than Gobert, I don't know what.

888
00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:20,799
Speaker 1: To tell you.

889
00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:24,520
Speaker 2: The reality is is that you got your ass kicked

890
00:42:24,600 --> 00:42:28,320
Speaker 2: in the conference finals. So forget about the plus minus numbers.

891
00:42:28,680 --> 00:42:31,800
Speaker 2: When Rudy was on the floor, you couldn't beat Dallas.

892
00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:35,279
Speaker 2: That's the issue. It doesn't matter if you were worse

893
00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:37,839
Speaker 2: when he was off the floor. The problem isn't whether

894
00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:40,279
Speaker 2: or not Gobert is the best player to play on

895
00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:43,480
Speaker 2: this roster. That's not the issue, of course, that that's

896
00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:46,440
Speaker 2: the best option for this roster with this group of players,

897
00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:49,160
Speaker 2: you needed to play Gobert to give yourself the best chance.

898
00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:52,240
Speaker 2: What I'm saying is this is not a championship roster.

899
00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:55,880
Speaker 2: I said this last night. To me, this Minnesota Timberwolves

900
00:42:55,880 --> 00:42:58,560
Speaker 2: team is closer to the Lakers from last year than

901
00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:01,360
Speaker 2: they are to a real championship contender in the sense

902
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:04,640
Speaker 2: that the Lakers got a couple of favorable matchups in

903
00:43:04,640 --> 00:43:07,880
Speaker 2: the first two rounds. Right, they faced a downhill threat

904
00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:09,520
Speaker 2: and John Moran in the first round so they could

905
00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:11,680
Speaker 2: protect the rim cause a bunch of problems. And then

906
00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:15,279
Speaker 2: they faced a Golden State Warriors team that has consistently

907
00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:17,960
Speaker 2: struggled with Anthony Davis over the last few years. They

908
00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:21,279
Speaker 2: got two favorable matchups. They beat the defending champs, and

909
00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:24,319
Speaker 2: then they ran into a real championship contender and got

910
00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:27,440
Speaker 2: their ass kicked. That's what happened to Minnesota. They got

911
00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:29,920
Speaker 2: a really favorable matchup in the first round. They played Phoenix,

912
00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:32,560
Speaker 2: a pull up jump shooting team that likes to attack

913
00:43:32,600 --> 00:43:34,920
Speaker 2: from the perimeter on an island, and they have all

914
00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:37,160
Speaker 2: the perimeter defenders to match up with those guys. They

915
00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:39,480
Speaker 2: locked them up. They kicked their ass. Right then they

916
00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:41,840
Speaker 2: ran into the defending champs. It was a bad matchup

917
00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:44,040
Speaker 2: because they have all this perimeter size they have to

918
00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:46,479
Speaker 2: throw at Jamal Murray. They have all this interior size

919
00:43:46,480 --> 00:43:49,399
Speaker 2: that throwt Nicole Jokic. They beat the defending champs. Now

920
00:43:49,520 --> 00:43:52,280
Speaker 2: that Denver team is way better than last year's Golden

921
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:53,920
Speaker 2: State team. I want to be clear, so I do

922
00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:56,640
Speaker 2: think that they're better. I think this Minnesota team was

923
00:43:56,719 --> 00:43:59,160
Speaker 2: better than last year's Lakers. I'm just saying they're closer

924
00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:01,680
Speaker 2: to that than they are to a real champion. Then

925
00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:05,320
Speaker 2: they ran into a real championship contender, this Dallas Mavericks

926
00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:08,360
Speaker 2: team that actually could attack some of Minnesota's weaknesses, and

927
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:13,080
Speaker 2: Minnesota got their ass kicked. So like again, like defend,

928
00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:16,279
Speaker 2: go bear all you want. You're not a championship team.

929
00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:18,239
Speaker 1: So like you weren't.

930
00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:21,040
Speaker 2: Close, you weren't actually close this year. By the way,

931
00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:23,040
Speaker 2: I said the same thing about the Lakers last year.

932
00:44:23,239 --> 00:44:25,879
Speaker 2: I didn't come out of that run going Okay, next

933
00:44:25,920 --> 00:44:28,520
Speaker 2: year it's Denver, Boston in LA. No, that's not what

934
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:30,920
Speaker 2: I said. I said that there's Denver and Boston and

935
00:44:30,960 --> 00:44:33,560
Speaker 2: then there's a gap. I think I put Milwaukee in there,

936
00:44:33,560 --> 00:44:35,719
Speaker 2: but I was like Denver, Milwaukee, Boston, and then there

937
00:44:35,800 --> 00:44:37,480
Speaker 2: was a gap before we got to the rest of

938
00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:39,239
Speaker 2: the teams, and I said, the Lakers have to make

939
00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:41,759
Speaker 2: a trade to get better. And I feel exactly the

940
00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:45,640
Speaker 2: same way about this Minnesota Timberwolves team. They are going

941
00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:49,040
Speaker 2: to run into Memphis, the Lakers, Oklahoma City, or Dallas

942
00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:51,440
Speaker 2: next year in the playoffs and lose again if they

943
00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:55,520
Speaker 2: everready go bear on the floor, because the issue is

944
00:44:56,120 --> 00:44:59,440
Speaker 2: their offensive players are slashers and pull up shooters, not

945
00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:02,560
Speaker 2: high level playmakers, and they can't handle the fact that

946
00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:04,840
Speaker 2: teams can really pack the paint when Rudy Gobert is

947
00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:06,640
Speaker 2: on the floor, and Rudy's not the kind of guy

948
00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:09,400
Speaker 2: that can easily catch and finish everything to kind of

949
00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:12,360
Speaker 2: make up for that type of flaw. So again, I

950
00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:15,720
Speaker 2: think that focusing on on off numbers from this series

951
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:17,759
Speaker 2: is missing the plot. You got your ass kicked. You're

952
00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:21,080
Speaker 2: not a championship team, so that is the major issue.

953
00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:23,400
Speaker 2: All right, guys, that is all I have for today's

954
00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:26,279
Speaker 2: mail bag. I'm gonna be back to again. I'm gonna

955
00:45:26,280 --> 00:45:28,920
Speaker 2: record it right now, but uploading tomorrow morning. Will have

956
00:45:29,400 --> 00:45:32,160
Speaker 2: a mailbag focus on the NBA Finals, and then on

957
00:45:32,239 --> 00:45:34,520
Speaker 2: Sunday morning, we'll have a mailbag focus on the rest

958
00:45:34,520 --> 00:45:35,040
Speaker 2: of the NBA.

959
00:45:35,160 --> 00:46:01,520
Speaker 1: I will see you guys. Then the volume